Fun at IF Maitland! May 2021

I love a good writers' festival! There's nothing like hearing other writers talk about their ideas, inspiration and writing process to really get my creative juices flowing! This year, I was lucky enough to get to be a part of the festivities for IF Maitland (Indie Festival Maitland). I started the day off by joining fellow picture book authors Sharon J. Boyce and Katrina McKelvey for a panel about 'Finding Your Voice with Writers' Groups', facilitated by the brilliant Jaimie Lewis. It was a real pleasure chatting about how we've grown as writers through our involvement in our writers group.

Then it was off to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery for a Storytime Lane show with my partner in crime, Graham Davidson. Aunty Em and Graham had a blast entertaining the crowd with stories, illustration, and general silliness and fun!

A little while later, and guess who was launching her latest book, 'How To Hug a Cactus'? ME!

I had a rollicking good time sharing my new book with the wonderful audience, as well as getting some young members of the audience up on stage to help me recreate illustrations from the book. So... Much... FUN!

To top it off, I signed books and handed out Book Swag to the awesome people who came along.

As if all of this wasn't enough thrills for one day, I was then lucky enough to join fellow authors Sharon J Boyce and Carly Taylor for our Larrikin Showcase. We each got to perform a section of our books for the audience, and they got to vote on whose performance was the best. The loser would have to suffer a cold, watery fate!

Did I rap 'Garbage Guts'?

Yes, yes I did.

Did the audience crown me the winner?

You bet!

Was there a major plot twist that saw me getting squirted with water pistols by pretty much every child in the audience.

Yes... yes there was.

Did I love every minute of it?

Absolutely.

After my rather watery ride, the children of the audience then got the chance to play 'Toss the Sausage in the Esky' and 'Sort the Rubbish' in order to win some pretty sweet prizes.

And that brought my day at the IF Maitland Festival to a close.

Was I tired at the end of it?

You bet.

Did I have the most fabulous time?

Well... look at the pictures... what do you think?